On the Low-Energy Effective Action of N=2 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory

We investigate the perturbative part of Seiberg's low-energy effective action of N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in Wess-Zumino gauge in the conventional effective field theory technique. Using the method of constant field approximation and restricting the effective action with at most two derivatives and not more than four-fermion couplings, we show some features of the low-energy effective action given by Seiberg based on $U(1)_R$ anomaly and non-perturbative $\beta$-function arguments.Comment: 27 pages, RevTex, no figure

Duality and Non-Commutative Gauge Theory

We study the generalization of S-duality to non-commutative gauge theories. For rank one theories, we obtain the leading terms of the dual theory by Legendre transforming the Lagrangian of the non-commutative theory expressed in terms of a commutative gauge field. The dual description is weakly coupled when the original theory is strongly coupled if we appropriately scale the non-commutativity parameter. However, the dual theory appears to be non-commutative in space-time when the original theory is non-commutative in space. This suggests that locality in time for non-commutative theories is an artifact of perturbation theory.Comment: 7 pages, harvmac; a typo fixe

The Dual of Supersymmetric SU(2k) with an Antisymmetric Tensor and Composite Dualities

We suggest a dual to an $SU(2k)$ Susy gauge theory containing an antisymmetric tensor, \nf fundamentals and \nfb anti-fundamentals. This is done by expanding the theory into an equivalent description with two gauge groups and then performing known duality tranformations on each gauge group separately. Chiral operators, mass perturbations and flat directions are discussed.Comment: 17 pages, Harvma

Meta-stable Vacuum in Spontaneously Broken N=2 Supersymmetric Gauge Theory

We consider an N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) \times U(1) gauge theory with N_f=2 massless flavors and a Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) term. In the presence of the FI term, supersymmetry is spontaneously broken at tree level (on the Coulomb branch), leaving a pseudo-flat direction in the classical potential. This vacuum degeneracy is removed once quantum corrections are taken into account. Due to the SU(2) gauge dynamics, the effective potential exhibits a local minimum at the dyon point, where not only supersymmetry but also U(1)_R symmetry is broken, while a supersymmetric vacuum would be realized toward infinity with the runaway behavior of the potential. This local minimum is found to be parametrically long-lived. Interestingly, from a phenomenological point of view, in this meta-stable vacuum the massive hypermultiplets inherent in the theory play the role of the messenger fields in the gauge mediation scenario, when the Standard Model gauge group is embedded into their flavor symmetry.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures, journal reference added, minor modifications in the tex

The Vacuum Structure and Spectrum of N=2 Supersymmetric SU(N) Gauge Theory

We present an exact description of the metric on the moduli space of vacua and the spectrum of massive states for four dimensional N=2 supersymmetric SU(n) gauge theories. The moduli space of quantum vacua is identified with the moduli space of a special set of genus n-1 hyperelliptic Riemann surfaces.Comment: 11 pages, Revtex, 2 figures. Reference adde

Monopole and Dyon Bound States in N=2 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theories

We study the existence of monopole bound states saturating the BPS bound in N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. We describe how the existence of such bound states relates to the topology of index bundles over the moduli space of BPS solutions. Using an $L^2$ index theorem, we prove the existence of certain BPS states predicted by Seiberg and Witten based on their study of the vacuum structure of N=2 Yang-Mills theories.Comment: 34 pages, harvma